beautiful one, sharer of my longing

27: Allegiances and devotion

The last two weeks were the worst of Gojo Satoru's life.

His wife and unborn child almost died before they could flourish, he could only communicate with her through one-sided letters, his father berated him at every turn, and Zen'in Toji told him quite alarming news. He missed you, ached for you and still felt so guilty for his responsibility in your decline. Selfishly, sleeping alone was something he was unused to.

He'd missed the way you reached out for him during the night, gentle hands on his arms and back and he knew he would never be able to get it back. Maybe never was an overstatement, as you were his lawful wife, but he was worried. When you were able to be out and about again, would you seek him out? Would you touch him the way you used to? Would you spew out little endearing confessions and tell him how he affected you?

Would you tell him you missed him?

Did you miss him?

He wasn't sure, but Satoru hoped so.

And yet, as if missing his wife wasn't the center of his whole world right now, he was forced to put the whole thing on hold. High-spirited pages for you to read were honestly on the back burner, for he had one pressing issue before him. As stated before, Zen'in Toji told him worrisome words.

"Pay? For that witch?" Master Gojo said in front of the surrounding council, Satoru blank by his side. "Gojo Satoru will pay, he said. What does this mean? Naobito himself will attack the estate?"

Gojo's right hand man Ryu spoke next to him, "I doubt such a thing would arise. His daughter is here, so I doubt he would risk injury to her."

"Unless she knows about such an attack."

Ryu and Master Gojo seemed to have an unspoken conversation between the two, and Satoru just had to roll his eyes at the nonsense. "My wife knows of nothing."

"How can you be sure? Her family was here days ago, were they not, son?" Gojo asked, breathless. "Zen'in Toji was fully capable of telling her."

"He told me himself she knows nothing. Stress was what caused her confinement in the first place," he explained with fingers tapping against his cheek. "Even he would not harm her."

"How can you be sure? Toji was your attempted assassin, my son."

"He did not tell her. He would not harm her." Satoru's tone screamed that it was truthful, but his father was unconvinced. Chin in the air and a hmph, the man instead turned to the men of his council.

"No matter the case, we need to be on high alert," he said, to which they all agreed. "At dawn, guards at all entrances and in front of the Lady's quarters. And Satoru."

"What?"

"If I find out that the Zen'in bitch knew of any attack or even gave insight, I will have her hanging on your front doorstep by the next morning."

"Oh, is that right?" he challenged.

"That's right."

"You need not question her allegiance," Satoru told him stoically, "and it would be best for you to not question me, as well. I know my wife, and she is devoted to me and the Gojo house wether we are in a spat or not."